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Pledge to stand up to Republican fearmongers in November

Dear MoveOn member,

I’ve spent the past weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, working my heart out alongside thousands of local MoveOn members as part of our MoveOn for Bernie Sanders effort. But this email isn’t about Bernie Sanders, and it’s not about Hillary Clinton or Martin O’Malley, either.

Because no matter what happens on the Democratic side tonight, one thing is clear: Whoever wins the Republican caucus—and there’s a good chance he’ll be named Donald Trump or Ted Cruz—he’ll win his primary on a platform of fearmongering and hate-baiting that should scare us all.

We’re all going to need to pull together to call out the dangerous ideas of these Republican candidates and make sure none of them take the White House in November. Will you help send that message by pledging now to stop whichever hate-baiting GOP candidate wins the nomination?

The surging hate-baiting and fearmongering by GOP presidential candidates is unacceptable. I pledge to oppose their nominee in the fall.

As MoveOn, we have to do two things at once. As a community, we’ve endorsed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary, and we will work our hearts out to help Bernie win, running a strong and positive campaign with a focus on his bold progressive agenda. At the same time, we also have to keep our eye on the Republican primary and put in motion our plan to make sure that none of the Republicans—Trump, Cruz, or any of them—gain momentum for the general election.

In Trump and Cruz’s attempt to outdo each other, they’ve promised to block Muslims from coming to America, to shut down all funding to Planned Parenthood, to carpet bomb civilians in foreign conflict zones, to tear up America’s international agreements on “day 1,” to create religious tests for immigrants and refugees, to support laws that allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians, to shred sensible gun safety measures, and much more.1,2,3,4,5,6,7

And even scarier: the rest of the Republican field—from Marco Rubio to Jeb Bush to Chris Christie—is racing to follow suit, pledging to keep Guantanamo open, to appoint justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade, to shut down mosques, and to prevent the government from combating climate change.8,9,10,11

From what we’ve seen in the Republican primary so far, whoever wins tonight—and whichever Republican secures the nomination—will be riding a surge of dark impulses in our country that threaten the inclusive, vibrant democracy we need America to be.

Will you pledge to stand up against these ideas and the eventual Republican candidate who will carry these ideas into the general election?

Yes, I will commit to keeping these Republicans out of the White House!

We have to call out hateful ideas and policies that undercut American democracy. We have to demand that the media call out Republicans when they lie—and expose just how extreme Republican policies are. And we have to begin right now to put in place a campaign to educate, engage, and mobilize voters through the year to make sure the winner of tonight’s Republican caucus—whoever it is—does not win in November.

So, tonight, even as we watch the Democratic results, we need to get ready to do everything we can in the fall to stop whoever the Republican nominee is. And that work has already begun.

Are you in?

The surging hate-baiting and fearmongering by GOP presidential candidates is unacceptable. I pledge to oppose their nominee in the fall.

Thanks you for all you do.

—Ilya, Jayne, Hannah, Matt, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. “Donald Trump: Ban all Muslim travel to U.S.,” CNN.com, December 8, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1060?ak_proof=1&t=5&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

2. “Trump: I would shut down government over Planned Parenthood,” CNN.com, August 4, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1061?ak_proof=1&t=7&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

3. “Ted Cruz wants to ‘carpet bomb’ Islamic State, but with some limits,” Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1062?ak_proof=1&t=9&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

4. “Cruz: ‘I will rip to shreds’ the Iran deal,” The Hill, September 16, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1063?ak_proof=1&t=11&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

5. “Ted Cruz’s Religious Test for Syrian Refugees,” The New Yorker, November 16, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1064?ak_proof=1&t=13&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

6. “Cruz Tells Evangelicals He Can Reverse Marriage Equality,” The Advocate, November 14, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1065?ak_proof=1&t=15&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

7. “Trump: I will ‘unsign’ Obama executive action on gun control,” CNN.com, January 2, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/1066?ak_proof=1&t=17&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

8. “Sen. Rubio: American Terrorists Will Be Sent to Guantanamo Bay,” The Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/1067?ak_proof=1&t=19&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

9. “On abortion, the GOP presidential candidates are even more extreme than their constituents,” The Washington Post, October 26, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1068?ak_proof=1&t=21&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

10. “Rubio Trumps Trump: Shut Down Any Place Muslims Gather To Be ‘Inspired’ — Not Just Mosques,” ThinkProgress, November 20, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1069?ak_proof=1&t=23&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E

11. “Rand Paul Goes Full-On Climate Science Denier,” ThinkProgress, November 12, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/1070?ak_proof=1&t=25&akid=161599.16840347.jj0m_E